The offseason was busy and productive for the Davidson College men’s basketball team, and now with official practice kicking off Friday and the season beginning in a month, McKillop hopes his 23rd Wildcats team can together reap the benefits of its individual work.
Davidson, 18-15 last year, returns a veteran roster that includes four starters, none of whom are seniors, and seven of its top eight scorers from a year ago.
But McKillop says the Wildcats aren’t concerned with the high expectations that follow a team that returns as much experienced talent. Instead, they are focused on the day-to-day tasks required to have success.
“We’re in a quest for excellence, trying to be the best we can become,” says McKillop. “We’re focused on running the race rather than winning the race.”
The Wildcats open the season Nov. 11 at home against Guilford. They host Lenoir-Rhyne in an exhibition Nov. 5, and between now and then, McKillop is hoping to see a few developments. He wants to see his players continue to improve, to put in the work, and he also wants to see leaders emerge. The Wildcats have a group of similarly talented players, and McKillop says the team needs to have some separation.
“I think it’s vital that this particular team have two guys separate themselves from the pack as the pacesetters and the trendsetters,” says McKillop. “I’m hopeful that occurs in the next two to three weeks.”
The leading candidates for those roles are juniors J.P. Kuhlman and Jake Cohen, Davidson’s top two scorers last year and a pair of two-year starters. Kuhlman, a guard, led the team with a scoring average of 12.8 points per game last season. An inside-outside threat, Cohen scored 12.2 points per game from the forward position, but at 6-foot-10, 220 pounds, he sometimes had difficulty matching up with thicker and more physical post players. That’s why Cohen spent the summer working out at Villanova, near his native Berwyn, Pa., and bulked up.
“It made a difference this summer (for him) to be able to focus on that,” says McKillop.
Droney, a 6-6 sophomore guard and returning starter, traveled home to Pittsburgh this summer with the mission of becoming a better three-point shooter. McKillop says Droney, who shot 21 percent from the arc last year, has improved.
McKillop expects junior guard Nik Cochran, sophomore guard Chris Czerapowicz, sophomore forward De’Mon Brooks and junior forward Clint Mann, the other returning starter, to benefit from last year’s playing time and an offseason analyzing it. And he is pleased with seniors Frank Ben-Eze and Will Reigel, who he says accept and play their roles as well as anyone.
Redshirt freshman Ali Mackay has continued to make strides, and Tyler Kalinoski has been the most promising true freshman so far.
McKillop says no player will have a drastically different role this year.
“The roles will become more defined, the roles will be played better,” he says.
Curry on campus
No one at Davidson has to look far to see the effects of the NBA lockout.
Stephen Curry is back on campus, attending class and working toward his degree in sociology, and McKillop couldn’t be happier to have the catalyst of the 2008 Elite Eight team back at Davidson.
“It’s like one of your boys coming home,” says McKillop.
While he’s not surprised that Curry returned to get his degree — the program’s all-time leading scorer always said he would — McKillop commends his efforts, when few could blame a pro athlete for not doing so.
“He doesn’t pick and choose,” says McKillop. “Everything he goes after in a quest for excellence.”
McKillop says it’s already been beneficial for his players to see Curry in Belk Arena and in the classroom. Many of them, in fact, were inspired to come to Davidson while watching Curry work his March magic as a sophomore. McKillop says it’s nice having Curry around because he embodies the excellence one can achieve at Davidson.
“There’s no more graphic or tangible representation of that,” he says.
